Farmers market.

[Tarot]

I think we should have our own farmers market in east Dulwich,the Village and Peckham are a bit of a journey for

some,and mothers with children.

They are spreading like wildfire all over the land,little market places selling fresh food.but not in our area.

The big stores are importing greengrocer food from far off lands, grown in inferior soil, then the cost of getting

over here is ridiculous.

The mantra is they are helping fair trade,I dont think so their aim is profit not charity.

So anyone want a farmers market local, Join the thread and maybe we will be heard.

[indiepanda]

I'd definitely use it if we had one in East Dulwich each week - the one in the Village is only once a month so not often enough to become part of regular routine.

[acumenman]

Where would it be situated?

Where would their trucks park up?

[acumenman]

Perhaps Peckham Rye as a possible site?

[Tarot]

That would be good,orgoose green.

[Atticus]

Goose Green would be perfect

[maria]

Might be good to approach the London farmers market organisation. www.lfm.org.uk. maria

[mcdoto]

Yep definitely I would use it

[peterstorm1985]

If Goose Green was used every week it would soon ruin the grass and become a mudbath. It's also a bit limited in terms of space for the vans/lorries. There's more space to move around on Peckham Rye if the grass suffers and more parking. It might also be seen to have a wider catchment area (a bit further from the farmer's market in Brixton), which would encourage more stallholders.

[*Bob*]

I look forward to buying a small jar of jam for ?6.50

[Scribe]

I look forward to going to a farmers' market where there'll be no actual farmers in attendance to sell me a vastly over-priced bottle of cowpat wine.

[Tarot]

Never been to a farmers market then Scribe?

It means the food is from our closest farms, that is fresher than you would get from a store,that has probably imported

and not really as good as what we grow here.

The call for this kind of market is so successful,the farmers are growing more now,and lots of people are eating

better food.

You dont have to buy jam,just buy the fruit and make your own.

[Penguin68]

Strange then that at many local (SE London) farmer's markets I always seem to find varieties of olives - I hadn't noticed the massed olive groves out there in Kent.

[Tarot]

They have polytunnels. and grow a vast range of vegatables, one of the successful ones being early strawberries.among other fruits including olives.

[*Bob*]

Olives from Chislehurst.. pancetta from Orpington.. and (lest we forget) those divine tomatoes which grow only on the gentle south-facing slopes of Bromley.

[tarynlondon]

I'd vote YES to a local farmers market!

[Alec John Moore]

Perhaps if it takes place at Goose Green we could persuade the local food producers to bring their overripe produce so that we could take turns throwing it at the sarcastic gainsayers who would be put in the stocks prepared for the occasion. Yes! Stocks within 20 postings. Seriously though, it has been suggested on other food/shopping related threads that the proposed expansion of the Northcross Road market could include stalls from local producers.

[Marmora Man]

I find the original post weird! "join this thread and maybe we'll be heard" - to me it sounds as if the OP feels there is some form of right to a local farmers market that East Dulwich has been denied by "them out there".

Farmers Markets are commercial enterprises - if they see a realistic demand / market then one will be created. There are farmers markets in Peckham (weekly), at Dulwich College (monthly) and elsewhere.

In ED we have access to good vegetables from SMBS, Pretty Traditional, The Turkish Shop and Co-op etc. We have good meat from W Rose, the van on Northcross MArket and the new butcher opposite the Plough. Moxons and the fish van provide us with good fresh fish.

I cannot see what farmers market would bring that ED doesn't already have - and, probably, the farmers market arrangers have taken a similar view - hence the lack of a Goose Green farmers market.

[peterstorm1985]

Everything Marmoraman say is of course true. We do already have access to a wide range of good fruit and veg* in LL so it would be very unlikely that any farmers market would be set up on Goose Green. But if you can demonstrate enough demand you may get interest (I think you'd need to be suggesting a site away from LL) so perhaps if everyone who is interested contacts www.lfm.org.uk then we can see what happens. There are a number of different organisations who run farmers markets, some with more stringent rules on local produce than others, which is why some people's experience of them includes jars of olives (I've never heard of a commercial grower of olives in the UK) and others will only have seen goods grown within 100 miles. If there was to be a farmers market I would only frequent one that had a strict 'grown in 100 miles' policy. (Some markets, including Dulwich, allow 'produced within 100 miles' which if it's marinating an olive is a bit like 'packed in the UK' that appears on so much in the supermarket)

*If we did get a farmers market I would imagine that Franklins farm shop would immediately go out of business.

[acumenman]

Franklins farm shop would suffer very little as it is a permanent fixture,

and the market would be only for Sundays I presume.

[peterstorm1985]

acumenman Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Franklins farm shop would suffer very little as it

> is a permanent fixture,

>

> and the market would be only for Sundays I

> presume.

Are you sure it wouldn't be harmed? Sundays are one half of the available shopping days for a large number of ED residents, certainly those with the cash to make principled decisions about food (don't try and tell me that Franklins is a discount store), so I would have thought the effect would be significant.

[plimsoul]

how about in one of the local primary school playgrounds? the school could make money and it wouldn't ruin the grass on the green. this is how they house a local one near to a friend's place in queens park.